Always Reading

Sexy, Touching SFR Menage a Trois

Revisado: 03-02-15

Which character – as performed by Stephanie Wyles – was your favorite?

Casey. The narrator was basically competent, but I have listended much better ones, both female and male. Some of the female voices could have used more distinctive dialects or accents, to liven things up a bit, but on the whole she was okay with the females voices. But she really needed to up her game on the males' voices. I had a hard time distinguishing some of them in dialogue. If she does more of Ann Mayburn's Bondmates series (when they are written) I would highly advise her to utilize things like upper vs. lower-class accents for Lorn and Nast (since that is what they are in their own society), gruffen up (yes, I just made up that descriptive) Commander Trenzent's "normal" speaking voice, so we can tell the difference when he speaks gently to his future bondmate, pull out a few different American regional accents for the different Earth women who bond with the males and finally to give Lorn's mother, the most powerful political figure in Kadothian society, a truly haughty and imperious public voice and attitude. She came off very bland to me in the book, when she should have been commanding.

Any additional comments?

4.5 Stars for the Story

This story contains elements of Bondage and Male Dominance/female submission.

I really struggled to rate “Casey’s Warriors.” I am total fan of Ann Mayburn’s writing, but I strive to review each work based on the story, not how much I enjoy the author’s total library. Thus I was really excited to read her take on the “Horny male-heavy society needs fertile Earth girls to screw, impregnate and have menage love with” trope.

First off, I was caught up with Casey as she and her family and friends dealt with the cosmic “event” and it’s aftermath on Earth society. That struck true, especially that her sister Roxy being in the Army got called up to calm the post Event rioting.

I was a little bit dismayed at Casey’s loss of dignity upon meeting Lorn for the first time. As it was written, Casey came off that way because she is a young (college-age), full-figured woman and it reinforced the unusual nature of the meeting with Lorn and it being completely outside her usual situation, but I would have thought she would try to keep it professional, since the meeting happened in public at her work. Her later interactions with him went from her being an unseasoned naif to becoming a sure and confident woman, thanks to her unshakeable knowledge of Lorn’s and Nast’s devotion to her and her love for them. She began to grow up and it showed. So my dislike of Casey to begin with is fairly minor overall.

Lorn and Nast were a dreamy pair. Both were gorgeous, with male model looks and the bodies of fitness models. They were both well-respected and powerful warriors in their society. They were an “opposites attract” pairing, Lorn being from the highest level in their society and Nast was by birth a farmer and still enjoyed agricultural pursuits. I would have enjoyed seeing more conflict based on this high-low status pairing, but because of the way Kadothian pairings form, they are assured of the “rightness” of them being together; apparently once the bond is formed, no one in Kadothian society would be uncouth enough to question it or insult them over it. And the way the bondings are formed is another area that I struggled with.

A type of empathic race, Kadothians can sense the emotions of others. When pair bonds are formed, each is made certain of the other(s)’ feelings, allowing no lying or deceit to flourish between the bonded. Casey can sense Lorn’s emotions for her almost as soon their first sex is over with. Being non-empathic, she has a hard time accepting this, despite being told about it. I was both intrigued by the empathic bond as a plot device and a bit irritated by it. Intrigued because it makes me wonder how that feels, to be 100% certain of another person’s feelings for you. To be able to sense just how hurt or happy they are in any given situation. How much easier maintaining a relationship would be with that ability! And that brings me to the irritation part. Using the empathic bonding ability meant that the relationship building between Lorn, Casey and Nast wasn’t as fulfilling for me. Its use lessened the need for them to work hard at building their relationship with each other, it was kind of a “shortcut” for them. Casey’s lack of experience with the bond did allow her to make a dangerous, spur-of-the-moment, immature decision, but it was necessary so she could learn to trust the bond and Lorn’s and Nast’s love at her deepest levels. Again, young people can make dumb decisions and Casey definitely showed her youth and lack of life experience. The way Lorn and Nast chose to “teach” Casey the error of her way, a domestic discipline spanking, was written well with emotion and sensuality, but I have a personal dislike of spanking scenes and can never fully appreciated the “sexy” side of them, no matter how well written. I know others find them incredibly arousing; I will just say that I do not find them so. Part of the half-star missing from the rating is because of that scene.

I am looking forward to the next books in the series. Ann has stated that Paige’s story is next. I am hoping after that is Roxy’s story. I do hope that there is further conflict shown between the antagonist race, The Hive, and the Kadothians, along with further exploration of the Kadothian culture. We got intriguing glimpses of both in this book but there should be much more in store for the reader. And there was the slight possibility that the Hive might discover Earth and its teeming billions, which could be a disaster of galactic proportions for Earth at least.

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Amazing Book in Both Written and Audio Formats

Revisado: 01-07-15

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would absolutely recommend this book. The story is strong, and the characters are people I feel like I know.

Have you listened to any of Cassie Fields’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was my first book narrated by Cassie Field. I could absolutely "see" her as Michelle, the main female character. She completely owned the character and I give her 5 stars for her perfomance. For her portrayal of Wyatt, I give her 3.75 stars, because it took me to about the end of chapter 2 before I was completely adjusted to her voicing of Wyatt. As a personal quirk, I rarely find women narrators can do male voices well. The other characters' voices were well done, but I had a bit of an adjustment to accept that Yuki, Michelle's best friend, sounded like she was from the Southern US. Yuki's origins/accent is never described in the book, so she could easily be from the south naturally, but it threw me at first, hearing the accent associated with Yuki.

Any additional comments?

I read "Still" when it was first published and was deeply impressed by Ann Mayburn's writing. It's rare to find an author who can weave a poignant love story using the disparate elements of military sevice, war-time PTSD, and BDSM, but Ann did so with ease in the pages of "Still."

The opening scenes from the main characters' time while deployed in Afghanistan were authentic -- enough so that my own issues from deployment were engaged. As a personal benchmark, that tells me the author has gotten the military portion correct.

The story then picks up with Michelle and Wyatt reconnecting Stateside, once they are both discharged from the military. Their relationship is complicated by their individual mental health challenges, specifically Michelle's crushing grief and guilt from her fiancee's murder years earlier and Wyatt's multiple combat-tour induced PTSD, which has been punctuated by a downward spiral of alcohol abuse and thoughts of suicide. Ann's accurate description of Wyatt's PTSD symptoms and Michelle's on-going anguish at the loss of her fiancee made me feel those emotions and the devestation both characters experience. Just as in real life, there are no easy "cures" for these problems and at the end of the book, Wyatt knows he is in a better place thanks to his relationship with Michelle. Michelle on the other hand, still has issues to resolve, but their devotion to each other is helping them heal.

The final strand of the the story, the erotic content, is off-the-charts HOT. Ann knows how to write a smokin' hot sex scene and "Still" has the perfect balance of them. The fact that Michelle's kink is Female Dominant BDSM and Wyatt is an alpha male, used to being in charge of his sexual encounters, makes the dynamic between them subversively delicious and it shows that the usual (and overdone) MaleDom/femalesub pairing isn't the only kink able to melt panties and explode ovaries. Anyone who thinks a male submissive can only be a sissified wimp who wants humiliation and abuse at the hands of ball-busting, man-hating Dominatrix needs to read this story, so those pathetic stereotypes can be laid to rest. Wyatt is all alpha male, even when he is submitting to Michelle, and Michelle is a tender, loving woman who enjoys commanding Wyatt to their mutual pleasure.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas